A deal built around your practice
A matter in your practice area, such as a shipping, private equity or tech deal, so students experience your work, not generic law.
MiniSeat Live
Swap the campus presentation for a live deal.
A live legal simulation for students at your target universities. They spend an evening doing what your trainees actually do, and your firm is the one they remember when applications open.
For law firms, universities and student law societies.
Why it lands
Most university engagement looks the same. MiniSeat gives students something to do, not another presentation to watch.
A presentation, some Q&A, then drinks. Students leave knowing your headline figures but very little about the work, and your team learns almost nothing about whether the event made a difference.
The usual eventMiniSeat Live
What students doListen, ask a question, collect a business card.Act for a client, review the documents and negotiate a live deal.
What they learn about youYour headline figures and your brand.How your people work, how they coach and what the job is really like.
What you learn about themWho turned up and who stayed for drinks.Who spotted the issues, protected their client and communicated well.
What you can report"University workshop" on an application form.Attendance, performance and who went on to apply.
How it works
One evening. One matter. Two sides.
Students bring laptops and work through a realistic matter. The structure is the same whatever the practice area: a brief, a side, some review, a dispute, a negotiation and a deadline.
- 01
Instructions
Every student receives a confidential client brief: goals, red lines and information the other side does not have.
- 02
Take a side
Students are randomly assigned to opposite sides of the matter, such as buyer and seller, or landlord and tenant.
- 03
Review
They work through the documents or due diligence and flag the issues that matter to their client.
- 04
Dispute
A point of conflict emerges. Each side decides how hard to push, what to concede and what to protect.
- 05
Negotiate
They negotiate the key terms against the student on the other side, with your trainees and associates coaching.
- 06
Sign and debrief
By the deadline, the deal either signs or falls through. Then your people explain what good looked like.
What makes it different
Information the other side does not have.
Every student works from a confidential client brief. Nobody has the full picture, so they have to ask the right questions, hold their red lines and decide what to concede, just as a trainee does on a real matter.
- Randomly assigned sides, so the evening rewards thinking
- A deadline that makes the deal sign or fall through
- Your trainees coaching each side throughout
Who it is for
Run it for your recruits. Or host it for your students.
A university engagement event students actually remember.
Replace the panel talk with an evening of work. Your trainees and associates sit alongside the students, coach each side and lead the debrief.
Your people front and centre
Trainees and associates coach each side, which gives students real time with your people instead of a panel talk.
A more memorable event
An evening of negotiation is more likely to stay with students than another slide deck.
Reach where you want it
Target specific universities, or institutions that support your social mobility and diversity goals.
MiniSeat handles
- Writing the matter and the client instructions
- The simulation platform and running the event
- Working with the university or student law society
- The report after the event
Your firm provides
- 2 to 4 trainees or associates to supervise each side
- Someone from your team to lead the debrief
- Your choice of university
- Optional: refreshments and branding for the event
What you can measure
Real results, not “how did you hear about us?”
Follow students from registration through to application, so you can see whether the event made a difference.
- Registered
- Attended
- Reached signing
- Applied
Attendance and engagement
From registration through to signing.
How students performed
What they spotted in due diligence, how they protected their client and how they communicated. Shared only where students consent.
Who goes on to apply
See real results rather than relying on "how did you hear about us?"
A short report
The key numbers and student feedback, after the event.
Who runs it
Built by a lawyer who has done the work.
MiniSeat is built by Jude Boateng, a former Watson Farley & Williams lawyer with experience across private practice and in-house. Having worked on commercial matters from both sides, Jude built MiniSeat around the work junior lawyers actually do, using realistic matters, documents and client instructions grounded in practice.
Get involved
Let's talk about MiniSeat Live.
We are working with a small number of firms and universities to shape the format. Book a call to see how it could work, or write to us if you would rather talk it through first.
Prefer to write? jude@miniseat.ai